Biography

Eric Thornton (b. 1981, New York) is a photographer of the natural, urban, and social landscapes. He works in analog media, keeping it so that the photograph is itself an actual artifact of time and space, a performance of the moment in which it was conceived. Eric studied traditional photographic methods and sociology at SUNY Purchase. All of his work is captured to film, and printed mostly in his darkroom in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In February 2018, Eric released his first book at ZONAMACO Art Fair (Mexico City). “A Perspective on the Prototypes” is a photo-essay on his travels to and experience of eight prototypes of the proposed US-Mexico border wall. Eric later presented and spoke on this work at StoryLab at Judson Memorial Church (West Village, NYC). Eric had his first solo exhibition in September 2019, at Please Space (Red Hook, Brooklyn). “My Eye Reaches But Little Ways” was a collection of 16 large-scale C-Type and gelatin silver prints, which brought into question the notion that ‘the arc of the moral universe bends towards justice”. His second solo show came shortly after, in February 2020, in collaboration with Wallplay (wallplay.com/wallplayseaport.com). “Without Friction, There Can Be No Movement” was a visual exploration of the role of political, cosmic, and personal “friction” as a necessary condition for creativity and progress. Eric exhibited a selection of recent Mexican works with Miyako Yoshinaga Gallery (NYC) at ZONAMACO 2020 (Mexico City) and at Sluice Biennial (UK) as part of a group show, in 2017. “9 Selections From Bed-Stuy Love Song” sampled images from an ongoing series on Eric’s beloved community of Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn.